Ex-offenders garden for good cause

New Reentry Center program benefits Good Samaritan pantry, residents

4:33 AM,
Sep. 4, 2013

In three hours on Aug. 21, people in programming with Alvis House and Ex-Offenders in Transition hand-picked about 350 dozen ears of sweet corn from the community garden at the Terry Collins Reentry Center.

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The Terry Collins Reentry Center staff members hope they are growing more than just produce with their community garden.

The fledgling center started a small garden in 2012 through the donations of plants by staff with the possibility of making it into a community service project for past offenders. The idea has blossomed with the help of Dave Porter, the justice reinvestment officer for Chillicothe.

Porter's job includes reviewing programming across the state, and when he saw a gardening program at SEPTA, a community-based correctional facility in Nelsonville, he thought it was ...